Four Chinese policemen have arrested
on October 3 the head of a Tibetan
medical college just outside United
Nations’ refugee agency office
building in Ulaanbaatar with the
help of more than 10 Mongolian
police officers, Radio Free Asia
reported on October 21.

But the Mongolian national legal
enforcement agencies have denied
that “no such arrest has happened.”
The news centerpieces in local
Mongolian media outlets as “strongly
condemn” act of Chinese police.
Batzangaa, 35, a Chinese national
and ethnic Inner Mongolian, was
deported back to China together with
his wife Bayanhuaar and their
nine-year old daughter. According to
the New York-based Southern
Mongolian Human Rights Information
Center (SMHRIC), the three were
deported on the same day with no
apparent recourse to Mongolian legal
proceedings to challenge the
deportation order. They were
reported to have applied for
political asylum from UN Refugee
agency in Ulaanbaatar.

“They brought us back from Mongolia
[to China]. At the time, they told
us it was because we owed someone
money because we set up a school of
Tibetan medicine, and they were
suing us to get it back, that it was
‘economic fraud’,” told Bayanhuaar
to RFA.Before leaving China,
Batzangaa was reported to have set
up and run the Ordos Mongol-Tibetan
Medical School of traditional
Tibetan medicine in 2001, and had a
series of disputes with the Chinese
authorities over the right to
maintain the school’s ethnic
characteristics.

“The Chinese authorities put the
school under surveillance, alarmed
by its growing ties with Tibetans
and Mongolians, and canceled the
school’s land lease, citing “the
authorities’ suspicion and
surveillance towards ethnic
minorities” in its official
documents, the SMHRIC said. “The
three entered into Mongolia under
30-day visa in May 2009. But they
stayed in Mongolia illegally for
five months. According to Mongolian
laws, foreign citizens staying more
than 30 days must register with our
agency within seven days of arrival.
However, they did not register with
us. It is true that the police
authorities cooperated with us to
locate where he is. It was not an
arrest.

There is no violation of laws and
regulations of Mongolia. We do not
know that he applied for political
asylum or not,” answered Colonel
D.Murun, chief officer of the Office
of Immigration, Naturalization and
Foreign Citizens, in a question of
Zuunii Medee reporter on how the
Chinese police have the legal
capacity to make an arrest on the
territory of Mongolia.“Our officers
just asked the United Nations
Refugee Agency Office to bring
Batzangaa for a meeting, and he came
to us and met with the person from
the Inner Mongolian customs and
immigration authority,” he added. He
said that Batzangaa owed CNY52
million to a local authority, and
cooperated with Chinese authorities
to locate Batzangaa and deport him
back home. He said that the
immigration agency of Mongolia fined
Banzangaa for his illegal stay in
Mongolia.